Babysitting
by Sri Starlz
Summary: I haven't seen any fic with this theme yet for The 39 Clues, so I decided to make one. Basically, Dan and Natalie 'babysit' to snoop around the house of a suspected Vesper. No Romance, though. Just Humor. And Sinead somehow ends up babysitting with Hamilton- during her 'perfect afternoon'. :) *siren blares* Oh, right, and OOC Warnings! Read and Review! :D Now a two-shot!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi! This is an idea for a Humor oneshot I had. It just popped into my mind randomly and I thought it was too good to let go of. Enjoy, and don't forget to R&R! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the 39 clues. **

**WARNING: MAJOR OOCness. Please no flames with the word 'OOC', because you were pre-warned.**

* * *

**Babysitting**

Dan ran up to the doorstep and pressed the doorbell. Natalie trudged wearily up behind him.

"I still can't believe Amy made me do this," she grumbled. "And with you, of all people. If Mrs. Jackson is a suspected Vesper, why not just do a background check on her? Why do we have to snoop around while pretending to-" she shuddered- "_babysit_ her daughters?"

Dan sighed. "Come on, Nat. Amy thinks there might be certain docs we need in here." He jerked his thumb towards the house. "And after all, babysitting can't be that bad-" He stiffened and pressed his finger to Natalie's lips before she could respond. "Someone's coming!"

Natalie glared at him before molding her expression into a perfectly innocent one. Dan pulled away and tried to do the same as the door opened.

"Hi there, sweeties," a tall, hearty woman greeted them. "So you'll be taking care of my Dora and Diana for today? Rather young, aren't you? But I suppose you're experienced enough, considering you've joined the best babysitting club in town. My normal sitters are away on vacation, I think, so I had to ring for new ones." She led them inside, chattering relentlessly, before pausing to ask their names. "And you are...?"

"Neil Trent," Dan said smoothly, before Natalie could talk. "And this is Anne Barker. We're distant cousins."

"Pleased to meet you, Neil and Anne," Mrs. Jackson said, showing them to a messy living room. "Excuse the state of this, will you? I've been in _such_ a hurry all morning, getting ready to go to that lunch the Lesleys are giving. I'd take Dora and Diana, but they're both a little sick, poor dears, and I can't miss this lunch because I may never get to see Lola Goodman again. Lola was my best friend from the old days before she married and moved to New Mexico, she was. I haven't seen her in years..."

Natalie looked at Dan and grimaced. Why was this woman talking so much? She certainly didn't _sound _like a Vesper, but then they _were_ supposed to be masters of disguise. All the same, Natalie wished the woman would just tell them the essentials of babysitting (whatever those were) and get on with it.

"And hon, here are the diapers- don't hesitate to use as many as you need- and here's the baby bottle. It's already been sterilised. Dora's sleeping over there, and Diana's over there." She pointed to two cradles that were next to each other before moving to the kitchen counter. "The milk- feel free to heat anything- and paper towels over there, in case of... _emergencies._" She chuckled and glanced at the clock. "Oh, dear me! If I'm not ten minutes behind already. Sorry, dearies, must rush!" And with that she was out of the house.

* * *

Dan went over to the cradles and peeked in. _They're_ _cute, _he thought._ Don't look like too much trouble. Now for the important part of our 'babysitting'. _

"Bug sweep," he mouthed to Natalie, who nodded and went off to the kitchen. Dan almost immediately found a camera hidden just beside the curtains. He picked it off the wall carefully, using tweezers, and then crushed it.

"AAAAAEHH!"

Dan almost jumped out of his clothes. He leaned against the wall to catch his breath before going over to the first cradle, which was shaking. Natalie ran out of the kitchen, still clutching something in her fist. They peeked into the cradle.

The once-cute Dora had distorted her mouth into an upside-down U shape, and sounds that Dan occasionally made while ninja-training came out of it. Natalie covered her ears and turned away. Dan, however, carefully slipped his arms around the baby and picked her up.

Her eyes were not yet open, still half-asleep. Dan put her over his shoulder and rocked her slowly. Dora whimpered once or twice before setting up a full-out howl.

Natalie's eyes widened. "Why's she crying?"

Dan stared at her. "She's just sleepy and she doesn't know who we are. It's what babies do, Nat." Before she could yell at him for calling her Nat, he said, "Fetch the baby bottle! I think it has milk in it already."

She trudged away to get it. Dan sat down on the floor and laid Dora carefully on his lap, placing his palm under her head like a pillow. He whistled softly, trying to get the baby's attention.

Dora looked up at him with big eyes. Without even knowing what he was doing, he began to talk to her in a baby voice. "Is wittle Dora hungry? Don't cry, Big Sis Nat is getting you your milk!"

* * *

Natalie crept up behind him. She stifled her laughter, pulled her phone out and caught the whole thing on video.

* * *

Dan felt something warm trickle onto his legs. He made a high-pitched, strangled sound.

"N-Na-Natalie! Some paper towels and diapers please!"

The baby laughed. She actually _laughed_. It was probably the sound he had made, but...!

He heard laughter behind him, too. He turned to see Natalie, a phone clutched in her hand, almost falling over laughing. Dan frowned.

"What's so funny?"

"That... sound... you made... she peed on you... you were talking... baby voice... I got it all on camera!" Natalie said the last part proudly, still giggling.

Dan's eyes widened. "No!"

"Yes! And you can't come chasing after me now, you'll drop Dora," Natalie teased. "You're at my mercy, Dan."

Dan glared at her. "What do I have to do?"

* * *

Natalie thought for a minute. What could she make him do? Promise never to tease her again? Nah. That kind of stuff was remembered for about two hours.

Go on a shopping trip with her? Maybe, but still... not the best idea ever. Dan would probably interrupt her good shopping time with his silly comments.

She finally sighed. "Nothing. Oh, wait... Promise not to delete this video or prevent anyone from seeing it."

Dan looked surprised. "Oh. 'Kay, ninja's honour."

Natalie pulled the tissue roll off the table and handed it to him. Dan gingerly tore one off and placed it under Dora's bottom before handing her carefully to Natalie while he cleaned himself up.

Natalie held Dora gently, as if she were the most precious dress in the world. Natalie took the baby bottle, sat down with Dora on her lap, and put the nipple of the bottle in the baby's mouth. Nothing happened at first.

Then Dora began to... suck. Natalie was amazed. How did tiny babies know to suck at the bottle?

Dan came over to her, an impressed expression on his face. Natalie tried to look nonchalant, but her hand shook slightly.

* * *

Dan looked away from Natalie, pretending to go search for something to amuse Dora with. Then he remembered a ringtone in his phone. 'Child Laugh'.

When Dora was done with the milk bottle, Dan played his ringtone. A baby's high-pitched, comical laugh erupted from the phone. Natalie giggled as Dora stared at the phone.

The baby in the ringtone shrieked with laughter. Dan fell over laughing, even though he'd heard it so many times before. Dora smiled, and Natalie... was she _crying?_ With laughter? Because of his ringtone?!

The ringtone ended a few moments later. Dan was still laughing, curled up into a ball on the floor.

Natalie poked him. He didn't stir. She poked him again. He looked up, his face distorted with mirth. "What...?"

Natalie never got the chance to answer.

Suddenly, her eyes widened, wider than he had known anybody's eyes go before. He looked down at Dora, confused. "What's wrong? Is it..."

* * *

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

A couple of crows, cawing peacefully about life and its difficulties, fell off their branches. (Their _tree branches._ Crows don't belong to any... _family _branches.)

* * *

"SHE'S POOPING ON MEE!"

Natalie picked Dora off her lap so fast that the baby looked frightened for a moment before starting to cry. Dan started to laugh again.

"Serves... you... right," he choked on the last word. "Making me promise th-that... My turn to take a video of you... Hold still and don't drop the baby!"

He held the phone up triumphantly before starting to video a shrieking Natalie. Finally, though, he couldn't stand Dora's pitiful wails anymore.

"Here," he offered, taking Dora from Natalie, "I think it's time we get her away from the bad Cobra who scared her. Aww, poor wittle Dora, did Miss Cobrita scare you? Don't worry, Ninja to the rescue!" He swung the baby around, first just a little before going crazy dancing.

* * *

Natalie watched in part-amusement, part-amazement as Dan did all sorts of wild moves while _still_ managing to hold the baby safely. And Dora was laughing. Again.

Natalie felt kind of hurt. Why was it that the baby wouldn't laugh when she held it, only when _he _held it? All her life she'd been used to mean remarks and exclusion because of her family, but by a mere _baby..._ it was too hurtful. Natalie turned away so Dan wouldn't see the tears that started pricking her eyes.

_This is stupid. Why am I crying? It's not like I've tried making the baby laugh or anything, while he's actually trying. To make it laugh, to make it stop crying._ I_ should stop crying. NOW. _

Natalie tapped into her Lucian skills and blinked once, hard, to stop her tear glands from working. She turned back around before realizing that her dress was still covered in the poop. It looked horrible, a brownish-yellowish mess against her favorite shimmery-green dress. It took all her will to refrain from shrieking again. She reached up for the paper towels and wiped most of the solid off. But the stain was still there.

Natalie picked herself up and went to the bathroom. She put some water, wincing, onto her dress and allowed it to soak in before wiping it off. She went back to the living room to find that Dan had stopped dancing.

"Dan...?"

"Natalie. Shh. Go the cradle and rock it. Gently. _Very gently. _Now." Dan's tone was quiet and commanding, very unlike his normal voice.

Natalie had almost forgotten about Diana. She started to make her way to the cradle, but before she could get there, a whimper came from it. It grew into a series of whimpers, and then a steady wail.

Dan cursed softly. "Pick her up."

"But-"

"Just do it."

Natalie lifted Diana out of the cradle. Diana was a lot like her twin, but whereas Dora had blond hair, Diana's was red. And long- _much _longer than Dora's. Natalie pressed Diana to her body and rocked her softly, but Diana wouldn't stop crying. To make matters worse, Dora heard. Now that Dan wasn't dancing anymore, she picked up the cries of her sister, and they tried to out-howl each other. (Or it seemed like it.) Dan cursed even louder.

"Here, take Dora," he said.

"How?! I'm holding Diana, we can't just swap them like basketballs!" Natalie cried. She watched as Dan pulled Diana's blanket out of her cradle with one hand and spread it neatly on the floor. "Leave her there," he commanded.

Natalie did so, one hand on Diana's head to make sure it wouldn't hit the floor too abruptly. As soon as she was free on the floor, Diana rolled over onto her stomach.

Dan watched, amused at Natalie's expression of disbelief. "She's five and a half months old, Nat. She can do that. I read up on Mrs. Jackson's daughters as well as her," he explained.

Natalie smiled. "Work your charm, Dan. Calm her down. I'll take Dora."

* * *

Dan lifted Diana off the floor. "Milk-bottle, Nat- alie." He added the last part after a small pause. Natalie smirked at him before going to get the bottle.

Dan sighed. Why did babysitting have to be so hard? At the rate this was going, it seemed like they'd never get down to any actual business. He felt Diana's bottom and discovered that she didn't have a diaper on either. _Oh, great. Just great. _

After he had finished giving Diana her milk, he hunted around for the diapers. Laying Diana on the floor, he pulled off the plastic sticker covering on the diaper, lifted her legs and slipped it underneath. Finally, after sticking the straps back on, he leaned back and sighed again, but this time contentedly.

Natalie waved her free hand in his face. "Hello? You're not done yet, Dan! This baby needs a diaper as well!"

"Do it yourself, Natalie," Dan grumbled. "Give me a break." He closed his eyes, resting his head against the sofa. He'd been woken up way too early today morning by Amy. He needed sleep...

A loud SNAP! interrupted his thoughts. His eyes jerked open. "Natalie!"

The said girl smiled innocently. "I need diaper-changing lessons, Dan," she said sweetly.

"Weren't you watching me? Ugh. SO, first, tear off this white part, then do this, then pull this in..." His hand guided hers through the movements, a little grumpily. When they'd finished, he looked at her. "I'm going to get some sleep. Have fun taking care of the babies..." He fell onto the couch, asleep in less than a minute.

* * *

"Dan? Dan! DAN!"

No response. Natalie sighed, exasperated. She was tired too! That didn't mean they could just fall asleep- they had to take care of the twins until Mrs. Jackson came back at- was it three or four? Whenever it was, they had to take care of the twins until then.

Dan was really asleep, though. How he could be tired out so quickly, she didn't know (maybe it was the huge lunch he'd had before they came), but Natalie could tell he wasn't pretending. She glanced at the two babies on the floor, who looked like they were talking to each other peacefully. Natalie went over to an armchair, laid her head back, and dozed off.

* * *

A wail interrupted Dan's dreams. He lazily opened one eye, expecting to see the black-ninja-poster-covered ceiling of his room, but the cream yellow surprised his mind. He sat up and looked at his watch. Two o'clock. He'd slept for approximately two hours.

Dora was writhing on the floor. So was Diana. _Oh, shoot- I left them with Natalie alone for two hours! She's going to KILL me!_

Natalie... was in the armchair, asleep. Dan blinked.

"N-Natalie?!" Disbelief was evident in his voice as he pushed himself up, and, ignoring the babies, went to the sleeping girl. She didn't stir, still breathing evenly. For half a moment, the Cahill part of Dan feared that she had been poisoned or knocked out by an intruder, but that was stupid. Natalie was like, the Princess of Poisons, and there was no wound that Dan could see. Besides, Diana and Dora were alright. No, as hard as it was to believe it, Natalie was simply asleep.

A slow smile turned up the corners of Dan's mouth. He grabbed for his phone before fetching a glass of water from the kitchen- more specifically the freezer. When all was ready, he shushed the babies- they were surprisingly obedient- and stood in front of Natalie.

He held the glass out on top of her head before tilting it, first a little, then a little more, then... SPLASH! He poured the whole thing onto her face, making sure his phone was taping it.

Natalie's eyes flew open and her hand shot to her purse, bringing out her dart gun and pressing the trigger automatically. Dan's eyes widened before he crumpled to the floor.

* * *

Blinking a few times, Natalie shook her hair out. She took in the figure of a boy in front of her... a boy with darkish blond hair. _Dan. _

She tried to understand what had just happened. Why had she shot him? And why was her face (and a little bit of her hair) wet and _cold? _Something round and transparent that Dan was clutching caught her eye. _A glass. Water... in a glass..._ it all made sense.

Dan, seeing that she was sleeping, had tried to pour water on her as a prank. Her Lucian defense skills had kicked in and she had shot him out of habit.

Natalie frantically opened her dart gun up and looked for the poison she had used. No. 33? Or was that a 83? She rubbed her eyes to clear the water and sleep from them before resuming her hunt. That was... a 63. Poison No. 63.

Now for the next part- what did poison No. 63 do? Total amnesia... clogging all arteries and veins... enlarging blood vessels to bursting point... blindness... limb paralysis... All of the worst possibilities raced through her mind before she remembered that she had found poison No.s 61-65 very funny when discussing them with Ian. 61 was the love potion- she remembered threatening to use it on Ian and Amy once. 62 was the truth serum. 64 was blurry vision- it could cause a person to see nothing but the brightest things, and crash into walls while walking, etc. 65 was to brainwash a person- whatever they heard in the next five minutes, they would believe it. And 63... 63 was the funniest and the most annoying for the victim of them all. Natalie giggled.

Poison No. 63 caused sleep for five minutes, and then extreme itching. It aggravated skin cells all over the body and made them itch like crazy. The more the person scratched, the more it itched. Natalie laughed as Dan's eyes fluttered open. It was the perfect punishment.

He pulled himself up and scratched weakly at his left arm. "You shot me, Nat!"

"You poured water on me, Dan!" she mimicked his accusing tone before setting her gun back in her purse and going to pick up Dora.

* * *

Dan scraped at his arm irritatedly. Why was it itching so much? His leg started to give light twinges too, a sign that it was about to start itching.

Five minutes later, Dan was scratching all over his body. Every single inch of his skin was red from scratching so much, but it wouldn't stop itching! Natalie was slumped on the sofa laughing like she had never laughed before. He glared at her murderously.

"What poison did you use on me, _Nat?" _he asked quietly, using the nickname on purpose.

"Sixty-three."

"And what exactly does that one do?"

"It makes you... itch all over," Natalie winked at him before falling into another fit of giggles.

Dan's back demanded scratching. He rubbed it up against the sofa while scraping his legs raw. "Do you have an antidote?!"

"Y-Yes," Natalie admitted. "But I have to let you suffer a _little _longer before I use it on you, don't I? Why, I don't even have a video of you yet!" She started taping him. Dan looked more murderous than ever, but he couldn't do anything about it except scratch, scratch and more scratch.

Diana wailed on the floor. Dora picked the cry up from her sister. Natalie snapped her phone shut and tried to comfort them with no success.

Dan managed to smirk at her. "Need any help, Cobrita?"

Natalie tossed her hair. "Of course not."

She encircled Diana with her free hand and sat her on one leg while Dora was already on her other leg. All three rocked back and forth slowly. The babies calmed down in a bit.

Dan, however, was still trapped in the Land of Itch. He danced around trying to get at every inch of his body, almost twisting his shoulder in the process. Finally, he got down on his knees in front of Natalie.

"P-Please... antidote!"

"With pleasure," Natalie smirked before pulling a can of lotion out of her purse and tossing it to him. "Here."

Dan frantically rubbed the lotion inside the can on his body, barely paying attention to the label and the color. When he'd finished, he sighed contentedly and flopped onto the sofa.

Natalie fell over in another giggling fit. Dan opened one eye. "What is it now, Cobra?"

"Go look in the mirror!"

Dan shot up and raced to the bathroom. He stormed out in a minute.

"NATALIE! Care to explain why I'm PINK all over?!"

"It's pink lotion, Dan," Natalie explained. "I could've cured you with any lotion in this purse, but I gave you the pink one on purpose. Enjoy your life, green-eyed Pink Boy!"

"Will it wash off? Ever?!"

"Uh... I _think_ so."

"What do you mean?"

"It'll wash off after... five? No, seven hours. You can take a shower tonight at eight to get rid of your pink scales!"

Dan swore.

* * *

Mrs. Jackson returned at five. Natalie was starting to get a bit worried, but just then, the woman showed up.

"Sweeties, than- Honey, why are you PINK?!"

Dan mentally groaned. "Oh, it's nothing, Mrs. Jackson. Anne spilled a bottle of her _pink lotion_ on me." He looked pointedly at Natalie.

Mrs. Jackson chuckled. "Oh, this reminds me of the days I spent with my cousins when I was younger..."

"If you don't mind, Mrs. Jackson," Natalie interrupted, "we have- a commitment at home that we need to keep, so..." She spoke using an American accent, which worked, even though it was a little clipped.

"Ah, yes. How chattery and old I must seem to you. Shall we get to the matter of payment now?"

* * *

Twenty minutes later, under the rapidly darkening winter sky, a couple of thirteen-year-olds walked home.

Natalie's purse now held very important papers that she and Dan had snuck out of the house, carefully disabling all security. Dan's pockets contained three mini-cameras and a bunch of speakers and other cool devices he had found around the house while they snooped.

"Well... that was fun," Natalie said finally.

Dan scowled. "I'm PINK. How is this FUN?! I'm going to lose all the ninja-rep I built up with Ham once he sees me like this! Amy's going to have a field day! I'm doomed!"

Natalie laughed. The silence between them remained unbroken the rest of the way home.

* * *

**Whoa. LONG. XD **

**I thought some things were a bit off in this story, like the times and all, but... whatever. IDC, really. :P**

**Hope you liked it! And review, of course! :D**

**~Sri**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So I got a few reviews for this asking if it was just a oneshot, and I did intend it to be that way- but then I got this idea, so I wrote another shot. xD **

**Thanks for the reviews! :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the 39 Clues or babies. xD **

_Ding-dong! _

Sinead Starling sighed in annoyance as she got up from the armchair and went to answer the door. It was a snowy December day, so she'd decided to have a lazy afternoon for once- being the head of the Ekat branch had its downs, too- and made herself hot chocolate, settling down in the living room beside the roaring fire with her laptop.

Opening it, she found her neighbor Mrs. Chase on the porch, her six-month-old son nestled into the crook of her arm. Both were bundled up thickly against the cold.

"Hi, Sinead," Mrs. Chase began brightly. "I was just wondering if I could leave Ronnie here for a bit? We're having repairs made all over the house, installing shelves, hooks, filling in holes, painting walls, and the like, and he can't sleep with all the noise. I have to go, because I need to oversee the workers- you can't trust anyone nowadays."

Sinead blinked, trying to keep up with the woman's rapid speech. "Um... Alright, I think..."

"Thanks, dearie. Here, I brought this along." She gestured to a dark green bag hanging over her shoulder. "It has his milk bottle, the diaper bag, just in case, and some of his little rattle-toys. He won't be any trouble, I'm sure. Thanks again, bye!"

Mrs. Chase had handed both the baby and the bag to Sinead as she talked, and after the 'bye', she disappeared in a flash.

Sinead looked down at Ronnie and groaned. _Ugh, there goes my perfect afternoon._ She placed Ronnie on the couch gingerly, afraid he'd wake up at any moment.

Just then, she heard a crash from upstairs and sighed, walking to the stairs. "_What_ did you break?!"

Ned's voice drifted down. "Um, nothing much, Sinead... Just, uh..."

"WHAT. _WAS_. IT?!"

Ted peeked down at her guiltily. "Uh, that vase you treasure so much... the greenish-yellow one..."

Sinead could feel the fury building up inside her. Dan, Hamilton, Jonah, Phoenix, and Ian had come over to the Starlings' house to hang out- according to Dan, it was Boys Day. And of course, Ned and Ted always had the coolest video games, ones that they'd created themselves- with a few ideas from Dan. Sinead had threatened them with certain death if any one of them disturbed her during her "peaceful afternoon", and they'd agreed immediately.

And now they'd broken the vase. It had been her mother's favorite, but somehow Mrs. Starling had forgotten it when she and her husband had disowned their children and moved out of the house after the Starlings had failed to win the Clue hunt. Sinead had prized it sentimentally as the last relic she had of her parents.

They'd. BROKEN. It.

All of her frustration came out- the hours of worry and stress caused by Ekat disputes, the ruining of her perfect afternoon, and now this. "ALL OF YOU. GET DOWN HERE AT ONCE."

Seven scared faces looked down at her, saw that she really meant it, and trooped down obediently. Last but not least came Hamilton, limping down the stairs.

"That vase was my _mother's_."

Now Dan looked a bit guilty- he knew what it was like to lose the last relics you had of someone you loved, Sinead supposed. It didn't lessen her anger by much.

She turned away from the watching boys and closed her eyes, growling in frustration. "Argh! I'm not going to say anything. Just get out of the house. Now. I don't know, go have a snowball fight or something in the backyard. But get out NOW!" she snapped.

Ned and Ted, relieved at being let off so easily, practically ran to the back door, the others following him quickly.

Except Hamilton.

"Um, Sinead? I can't join in the snowball fight..." He gestured meekly to his crutches, which were perpetually trembling under the weight they upheld.

Sinead realized he was right. She couldn't be unreasonable and kick him out of the house into the snow with a broken leg. "Ugh, fine. I still don't know how you broke that thing- I mean, aren't Tomas supposed to be mega-strong or something? Sit on the cou-"

She stopped, suddenly hearing a new sound. What was it... it sounded like... a whimper.

Oh. Ronnie had woken up, probably, from all her yelling. She felt a bit guilty- the reason Mrs. Chase had left him here was so he could get some sleep quietly. But she'd woken him up almost immediately after with all her shouting.

"Who's that?" Hamilton gestured to the bundle on the sofa.

"My neighbor's son. They have a bunch of repairs going on at their house, so she left him here to get some sleep."

Hamilton snickered, sitting down in the armchair. "Yeah, because this is _such _a serene environment."

Sinead sighed and picked Ronnie up. "Shut it, Dolt," she hissed, placing the baby awkwardly against her shoulder and trying to rock him.

Hamilton started laughing. She turned and glared at him. "_What?!" _

"Th-that's... not how you rock... a baby. You look like you're trying... to find the zipper... on a backpack or something," he managed to get out between laughs, "while waltzing... with the backpack." Then he couldn't speak anymore and doubled over laughing, the armchair shaking precariously.

Sinead glared harder at the laughing boy. "I said, _shut it. _If you know so much about rocking a baby, Mr. Babysitter, why don't you do it yourself?!"

"AAAEEEHHHH!" the baby wailed, fully waking up at the sound of Hamilton's booming laugh. Sinead grimaced, walked over to Hamilton and held Ronnie out to him.

Hamilton slowly stopped laughing and smirked at Sinead. "I had to take care of Madison and Reagan when they were babies. They were extra-fierce babies, too- this one should be a piece of cake after them."

Sinead mumbled, "Well, excuse _me _for being a triplet," and handed the baby to Hamilton. He took Ronnie, held him against his shoulder, and started rocking on the armchair.

But the baby's cries didn't stop. Sinead went around to the other side of the armchair to look at Ronnie's face and gasped. "Hamilton! You're choking him! His face is _blue._"

Startled, Hamilton immediately loosened his grip on Ronnie. "Madison and Reagan were extra-durable, too," he muttered, shaking Ronnie gently, trying to get the color back into his face. "Or maybe I was just less strong back then..."

The baby wailed louder than ever. Sinead crossed the room, pulled out a pair of cottonballs from the cupboard, and used them to plug her ears. She came back to the armchair, only to find Hamilton looking dejectedly at the crying Ronnie. She snickered, thinking he was embarrassed he'd bragged about babysitting and then not been able to do it as well as he'd expected.

Hamilton stared at her. "I forgot babies like to... um... do their thing right after they wake up... Gah. Just take him and give me a roll of paper-towels or something," he begged.

"He PEED ON YOU?!" It was Sinead's turn to laugh until her stomach ached.

Hamilton waited impatiently until her chuckles subsided. "_Now, _since I can't go the bathroom and wash this stuff off, can you _please_ give me some paper towels?!"

Sinead frowned. "It'll wash off, won't it? I mean, you're wearing basketball shorts. They're of that almost waterproof material."

Hamilton sighed, exasperated. "It's not my shorts I'm worried about, it's my cast!"

"Oh." Sinead giggled. "Okay, then." She carefully picked Ronnie up and set him down on the floor, realizing his blanket was wet. She peeled it away and found that he didn't have a diaper or underwear on. She cursed Mrs. Chase's absent-mindedness silently.

Hamilton coughed impatiently. Sinead got the paper towel roll and gave it to him, and he proceeded to wipe off as much of the wet off his cast as he could. Sinead watched for a moment, realizing he hadn't asked her to sign his cast yet.

* * *

Dan peered in from the kitchen door suspiciously. Ian and Phoenix were with him. "What's Ham doing with Sinead?"

"Dunno," Phoenix responded casually. "But I want something to eat, I'm hungry."

"How about ice cream?" Dan said excitedly.

Ian stared at him. "Daniel, it's five degrees below zero outside, you're not done with your snowball fight yet, and you want _ice cream?_"

"Yep. Would you like some, Cobra?"

"No, thank you. _I_ prefer not to catch my death of cold by eating ice cream in the middle of winter," Ian said stiffly, walking back outside to where Jonah, Ned and Ted were flopped out on the ground. Gingerly, he sat next to them.

Dan looked at Phoenix and shrugged. "Chocolate or cookie dough?"

"Cookie dough," Phoenix said, slapping his buddy a high-five.

They searched the kitchen, and finding a huge tub of the very ice cream they wanted in the refrigerator, proceeded to finish it all.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sinead rummaged in the green bag. _Diaper bag... diaper bag... did that lady forget to put it in? Gosh, we don't have any diapers over here, I guess I'll have to run over and ask Mrs. Chase for some... I better check on the boys first, to make sure they're all right, and tell them not to come farther into the house than the kitchen. _

"Sinead?"Hamilton asked impatiently. "Where are those diapers?"

"Can't find them," Sinead returned. "Guess I'll have to go over to their house and get some. I'll tell the boys first."

She walked to the kitchen and flung the door open, stopping short.

On the counter sat Dan and Phoenix, with the open tub of cookie dough ice cream. Dan pulled the scoop out of the tub one last time and licked it clean before both of them spotted her in the doorway.

Sinead took a deep breath. "Do I want to know why my all-time favorite flavor of ice cream no longer exists in an edible form in my house?"

"Um... we were hungry?" Phoenix squeaked.

"Happy Boys Day!" Dan said cheerfully, in an attempt to change the subject.

Sinead controlled her anger- she'd make both of them buy her a bigger tub of the same ice cream with their own pocket money later. "Get the others in here."

The boys scampered out, returning in a few minutes with the rest of their gang. Sinead explained the situation and told them not to demolish the kitchen or enter the lab while she was gone.

"Wait... you're going for _diapers?_" Ted asked.

"Yeah..."

"You don't have to. I bought a bag of them the other day for our Substance Resistance experiment. Hold on, I'll go get them." Ned disappeared in the direction of the stairs.

"But are they in usable condition?" Sinead enquired of no one in particular.

Jonah grinned. "Knowin' your brothers, I'd say probably not."

Soon, Ned returned, carrying a bag of diapers with a big, fake-looking baby on the side advertising the diapers.

"If I was one of those babies who modeled for a diaper company, I wonder if I'd be proud of it when I grew up," Dan mused as Sinead opened the bag.

"Probably not," Phoenix said thoughtfully. "I mean, they're DIAPERS."

"My cousin was a model for Huggies when he was a baby," Ian said, shuddering. "He made the mistake of bragging about it in his first few days of kindergarten, and he was teased to death the rest of his school life."

Hamilton laughed, overhearing their conversation. "Really, Ian?! A model for HUGGIES?! S'pose it runs in the family."

This set all the boys except Ian off into a round of laughter, which was cut short by Sinead.

"Ew! Ned! What IS this?!" She held up a diaper covered in a yellowish-whitish goo.

"Egg yolk," Ned said sheepishly. "I told you we were doing a Substance Resistance experiment. We basically wrapped an egg in a substance, such as diapers, wool cloth, etcetera, and dropped it to see which substance would keep the egg intact."

Sinead groaned. "Are there any clean ones left?!"

"Well, we only did five trials," Ted said. "Go down five diapers."

As Sinead threw diaper after egg-yolk-stained diaper out of the bag, Dan whispered to her brothers, "Why'd you put the eggy diapers back into the bag?"

"We wanted to take pictures of the experiment to show after we were done with it, and our lab's chock-full of other stuff. We couldn't find anyplace else to put it except on the floor," Ned and Ted admitted together. Dan snickered quietly.

Sinead finally grabbed a clean diaper and held it up triumphantly. "Alright, you lot. Back outside."

"But it's so warm in here," Phoenix protested, looking at her pitifully.

It didn't work. "I don't want you _eating_ or _breaking_ or just overall demolishing _anything else_ in this house. OUT."

Obediently, they went back outside and started preparing to continue their snowball fight. Sinead dumped the diaper bag beside the refrigerator after taking one from it and returned to the living room.

Hamilton was staring at her. She sighed. "I almost forgot you were here, Dolt. What?"

"Why're you so... so snappy at everyone today? I mean, you're always snappy, but you seem especially pissed off today."

"Nothing. It's just..." Sinead sighed again and sat down on the floor beside Ronnie, opening the diaper up. "Today was supposed to be my 'lazy day', the first time I took a break from work in, oh, five weeks. I don't think you understand just how tough my job is- you aren't the head of your branch. I was planning to spend the afternoon drinking hot chocolate, listening to music and chatting with my few non-Cahill friends. And first, it was Ronnie, and then you guys broke the vase- my mother's favorite vase."

Her voice broke at this point, and she busied herself in fixing Ronnie's diaper, which she did quite well, having watched Mrs. Chase do it a bunch of times. When that was done, she took his blanket away and wadded it up gingerly, leaving the baby on the sofa.

Ronnie's whimpers had ceased a bit after his diaper had been changed and he'd recognized Sinead, but now they started up again. Sinead guessed he was hungry and went to the green bag again, in which, thankfully, she found his bottle full of warm milk. She sat down and started feeding Ronnie quietly, thinking.

She didn't know why she'd just spilled all of that to Hamilton- he wouldn't understand. _Holts probably never have 'lazy days',_ she thought. _If they do, it'll probably be running three miles around town instead of nine. Although I bet Hamilton would collapse if he had to go through as much paperwork as I've done in the last two weeks. Even Ekats aren't meant for doing nothing but reading, understanding, signing, over and over and over again. We're about being smart, pursuing knowledge, but not what I've been doing. _

_____And the vase. Why'd I tell him about the vase?! He probably thinks I'm a sentimental weirdo now or something. I've never seen Tomas show affection directly, except for Hamilton's parents. They're all practical. So are we Ekats- with the exception of moi, apparently. Ugh, whatever. I don't care much about anything I've told him- I just am not going to say anything of that sort ever again. _

* * *

Very different thoughts were going through Hamilton's mind as he sat there and watched her work, feeling a bit useless.

_Oh wow. Maybe branch leader isn't as ideal a job as I'd expected, if that's really the reason she's so mad. I know Amy usually has a tough time, but I supposed she kinda has to oversee all the branches, while Sinead just has one. The Ekats probably aren't ones to bow down to every command, even their leaders, and they won't accept the inter-branch cooperation now. I wish I could help her with it, I've never seen her look so stressed. Not even during the Clue hunt. _

_And I should've somehow prevented Dan from breaking that vase, I guess. It didn't look like anything special, but then I've noticed it's usually ugly stuff which is treasured the most. She probably feels like I did when I lost my watch, the one I'd had since I was two years old- except ten times worse. Ouch. _

___I wish I could help her now, at least, with Ronnie, so she could go have her 'lazy day' as she'd planned. Stupid broken leg. Broken leg... that reminds me, she's got to sign my cast. I'll ask her to do it right before we leave in Ian's car. Wonder what she'll say; she's in such a rotten mood she'll probably refuse. Oh well, I can try, anyway._

* * *

Sinead was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't even realize Ronnie's eyes had closed and he'd stopped sucking, fast asleep. She shook herself a few minutes later, picking the baby up gently and placing it on the sofa. She put a cushion beside it to keep it from falling off the sofa in its sleep.

She turned away and ran a hand through her hair, wondering what to do next. She decided to go upstairs and check on the vase, find out if it could be fixed or if it was gone forever. Sinead told Hamilton where she was going and quickly climbed the stairs.

It used to stand on a shelf right next to the stairs, so she looked there immediately. No vase, obviously.

Sinead searched around for the pieces, and stumbled upon a pile just beyond the shelf. Not bad, she realized. Just three pieces- it could probably be fixed. She'd get Phoenix to do it- he had steady, artistic hands.

Feeling a bit better, she gathered up the pieces and took them downstairs, placing them on the dining room table. Ronnie was still asleep peacefully, and Hamilton was sitting there looking bored.

Suddenly, Ian burst in the back door, followed by the rest of the boys. "We have to go. I just got a call about urgent Lucian business..."

"But- our snowball fight-" Dan spluttered.

Jonah patted his arm. "S'okay, cuz. Phoenix and I are coming to Grace county, we can have a bigger, better one there."

Hamilton got up, grabbing his crutches. "Thank goodness. My butt was starting to hurt from sitting here so long."

All of them trooped out to Ian's car, and Sinead sighed in relief. Maybe she could have her 'lazy day' after all. She was just about to sink down on the sofa and close her eyes when she heard the sharp _tick, tick _of Hamilton's crutches outside. He entered, limping at top speed, and she looked at him curiously.

"Sinead! W-will you... will you sign my cast?" Hamilton panted, tired from the rate he'd been going at on his crutches. He looked at her expectantly.

Sinead smiled for the first time since Mrs. Chase had left Ronnie at their house, approximately an hour and a half ago. "Of course."

She grabbed a green marker from the coffee table, knelt down by him, and wrote,

_Get well soon, Mr. Babysitter. ;) _

_Love, Sinead._

* * *

**And that's it. I like the first one, the Natan one, better. :/ This one sounds kinda stupid to me. **

**Anyway, R&R! :D **

**~Sri**


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